Simulation of ground-water flow in the Albuquerque Basin, central New Mexico, 1901-1994, with projections to 2020

Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4251

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Abstract

This report describes a three-dimensional finite-difference
ground-water-flow model of the Santa Fe Group aquifer system in
the Albuquerque Basin, which comprises the Santa Fe Group
(late Oligocene to middle Pleistocene age) and overlying valley
and basin-fill deposits (Pleistocene to Holocene age). The model
is designed to be flexible and adaptive to new geologic and
hydrologic information as it becomes available by using a geographic
information system as a data-base manager to interface with the
model. The aquifer system was defined and quantified in the model
consistent with the current (July 1994) understanding of the
structural and geohydrologic framework of the basin. Rather than
putting the model through a rigorous calibration process, dis-
crepancies between simulated and measured responses in hydraulic
head were taken to indicate that the understanding of a local part
of the aquifer system was incomplete or incorrect.
The model simulates ground-water flow over an area of about
2,400 square miles to a depth of 1,730 to about 2,020 feet below
the water table with 244 rows, 178 columns, and 11 layers. Of the
477,752 cells in the model, 310,376 are active. The top four model
layers approximate the 80-foot thickness of alluvium in the
incised and refilled valley of the Rio Grande to provide
detail of the effect of ground-water withdrawals on the surface-
water system. Away from the valley these four layers represent the
interval within the Santa Fe Group aquifer system between the com-
puted predevelopment water table and a level 80 feet below the
grade of the Rio Grande. The simulations include initial condi-
tions (steady-state), the 1901-1994 historical period, and four
possible ground-water withdrawal scenarios from 1994 to 2020.
The model indicates that for the year ending in March 1994,
net surface-water loss in the basin resulting from the City of
Albuquerque's ground-water withdrawal totaled about 53,000 acre-
feet. The balance of the about 123,000 acre-feet of withdrawal
came from aquifer storage depletion (about 67,800 acre-feet) and
captured or salvaged evapotranspiration (about 2,500 acre-feet).
In the four scenarios projected from 1994 to 2020, City of
Albuquerque annual withdrawals ranged from about 98,700 to about
177,000 acre-feet by the year 2020. The range of resulting sur-
face-water loss was from about 62,000 to about 77,000 acre-feet.
The range of aquifer storage depletion was from about 33,400 to
about 95,900 acre-feet. Captured evapotranspiration and drain-
return flow remained nearly constant for all scenarios. From 1994
to 2020, maximum projected declines in hydraulic head in the pri-
mary water-production zone of the aquifer (model layer 9) for the
four scenarios ranged from 55 to 164 feet east of the Rio Grande,
and from 91 to 258 feet west of the river. Average declines in a
383.7-square-mile area around Albuquerque ranged from 28 to 65
feet in the production zone for the same period.

Additional publication details

Publication type:

Report

Publication Subtype:

USGS Numbered Series

Title:

Simulation of ground-water flow in the Albuquerque Basin, central New Mexico, 1901-1994, with projections to 2020

Series title:

Water-Resources Investigations Report

Series number:

94-4251

Edition:

-

Year Published:

1995

Language:

ENGLISH

Publisher:

U.S. Geological Survey,

Description:

ix, 114 p. :ill. (some col.), maps (1 col.) ;28 cm.

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